NOTE: This post is out of order, but it took me a while to do the photo album to go along with it, and I wanted to include it for the sake of documentation. This probably won't be very interesting for you to read--so you might just want to skip right to the PHOTOS. I wanted to write about some of the details so I could go back and read it all later.
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Crosby's Arrival
We were scheduled to induce at 7 a.m. on Thursday, March 26th so my parents came down the evening before to be here with the kids. We watched American Idol so that we'd be caught up for results night on Thursday and could watch it from our hospital room. :) I didn't sleep very well that night of course, but I was excited to get to the hospital the next morning. Lane thinks I'm crazy, but I've loved the "hospital experience" all three times--pain, exhaustion and all. To me, it's a sweet sweet time that I want to remember forever. The thought that it would be our last time to go through all of this made me want to cherish it all the more.
I was already dilated and having slight contractions when the nurse first checked and started monitoring me (I thought I'd been having mild contractions for a few days, but I wasn't sure). They started the medicine soon after 7 a.m. and contractions started increasing. I don't really remember what time it was--a little after 8 a.m. I think--Dr. B came in to say hello and broke my water. He laughed when I said, "Well, I'm so thankful I made it through three children without that ever happening in Wal-Mart." I guess I don't have a very high pain tolerance because it wasn't long before I was requesting the epidural. I honestly thought C would come faster than he did, and I feared waiting until it was too late to ask for the epidural. I was nervous about getting it because it took several tries to get the epidural in right with Alexee, and that was not a fun time. However, the guy that did it this time was wonderful and I barely felt a thing. For some reason it took a while to get the right dosage though...I'd feel fine for a while and then start feeling terrible contractions just minutes later. I think he came back to the room three times to increase the medicine until I finally couldn't even feel or move my legs! If I wanted to move my legs in the bed, Lane or the nurse had to move them for me! (That made it interesting when it was finally time to push.) My parents and Rhett and Alexee and Lane's parents came back to see us while we waited, and my home-town pastor and his wife were in town and they stopped by as well. We waited patiently and finally at about 1:20 p.m. the doctor arrived and it was time to push! Ten minutes later, we welcomed precious Crosby to the world! The second he arrived my tears started flowing...I was asking Lane if he was okay. I was so thankful to see his face, so overjoyed to get to live that moment again: the moment where you meet your child for the very first time but instantly feel like you've loved him/her forever. I wish I could press "rewind" and re-live that 10 minutes again and again. I got to hold him, then they wrapped him up and soon the kids and our parents all came in together to see him. I remember loving it when Rhett came in the room to see Alexee for the first time, and this was even more special having them both there to meet their baby brother. They were excited and Alexee was very curious. She wanted to touch him, and Rhett--being experienced at this--wanted to hold him, which he did. And there we sat on the hospital bed, a truly blessed and thankful family of FIVE! God is so good.
My parents took the kids back to our house and Lane's parents left for Hot Springs. We were exhausted from the day's events, but Lane went out to pick up a to-go order at Outback, then came back and we ate and watched the American Idol results together. He went home late and I tried to get some rest there. I was sore and the nurses had to come in often to check my temperature and blood pressure and the nursery brought C in every three hours for feeding, so it was another restless night, but that's okay. Lane spent a little time with Rhett & Alexee the next morning and then they all came back to the hospital to visit. We were cleared to check out that evening and got home about 5 p.m. Mom and the kids met us in the driveway and Rhett and Alexee ran to greet us. It was great to be home--I missed R & A so much even in the short time that we were gone, and I was anxious to all be together as a family. Crosby is a wonderful baby, we feel so blessed to have him. Rhett and Alexee are doing well with the adjustment, and Lane and I are learning to balance three kids in the house. Several people have asked if it's a lot harder than two. The actual shock of bringing a newborn home has been nothing compared to the first baby. Crosby seems really easy and even the nights don't really seem bad (he eats and goes right back to sleep, but he just won't sleep in his bed yet--I have to hold him). I think the difficult part is just the constant needs of the combined three and having only 4 hands if Lane's here, 2 if it's just me. It seems like every time I sit down to nurse (which is all the time right now!), the dog goes to the back door wanting to go out and Alexee strips off her pants and diaper and starts yelling "pee pee, poo poo". I didn't realize what a help it was that Rhett was fully potty-trained when she was born! We're slowly getting the hang of it. I think everything will be just fine!
If you would like to see photos from the hospital, please click
HERE.
Thank you all for your prayers during this special time in our lives!
Rhett has started swim lessons again this spring. I'm so proud of him for remembering most of what he learned last year. His teacher says that he's doing well with each of the elements and just needs to work on putting everything together. Alexee took one lesson and wasn't afraid, but she was a lot younger than the other little girl so the teacher recommended private lessons since she's so young. We're now waiting for an instructor to open up for that time slot so that A can get in the pool too. It's quite an ordeal trying to get everyone there for R's 30 minute lesson, but I really want him to be a great swimmer, so it's something I'm pushing myself to do. 
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